This growing majority of students has essentially been penalized because their families or their schools were unable to provide the same encouragement and direction that more privileged students have access to.

President Obama has set a clear goal for our nation's education system: by 2020, the U.S. would once again be the world's leader in the proportion of its citizens holding college degrees or postsecondary credentials.

Because colleges and universities are tax-exempt institutions and receive other forms of government subsidies, policymakers can and should insist that they meet some basic standards in promoting economic diversity among their student bodies.

Where is the technology fix or app for skyrocketing textbooks? Where are the barbarians at the gate? Those Silicon Valley warriors that took down Motown, turned my neighborhood Borders into a laundromat, eliminated Kodak AND my camera?

Despite their many differences, we can see in Jefferson and the Obamas a common commitment to a broad, open-ended education as a vehicle for disrupting entrenched elites. When the best educational resources are dominated by the wealthiest, they become an elite bent on cultivating their pleasures rather than on extending knowledge and cultural vitality.

Our at-risk students need our support and we need them to make it as far as they can go. The country's economic competitiveness, and our promise of economic opportunity for all Americans, depends on it.

I had the opportunity to meet with incredible young adults, ages 17 to 24. These young people are so resilient -- each one overcoming numerous barriers while juggling classes, jobs, family commitments and piles of financial aid paperwork.

Cristo Ray students are more than ready to make the most of college, because they're making the most out of high school. I asked one class what advice they would give to ninth graders interested in college, and one student said "time management."

While values education may happen in the home or community, there is a critical role for schools and universities to play as we impart new knowledge -- and with it, provoke the discourse that instills personal and social responsibility.

The graduation rate calculation needs to account for students who eventually are able to complete their degrees, against steep odds, while preserving the incentive for full time students to complete their work in a timely fashion.

What they found was that lack of information and self-confidence are frequent barriers to college success for young men of color in the criminal justice system, who are often deterred by incomplete and inaccurate information about financial aid, admissions, and the benefits of a degree.

Who is responsible for inequality? Is it the 1 percent, soaking up the lion's share of national income and wealth? Or the failure of people in the 99% to boost their earnings to get sufficient education and skills to compete in the labor market?

We analyzed the growth of the top ten percent of students within their respective schools over three years in a large sample of 1,000 schools across the country. Our researchers hoped to see if the high achievers in high-poverty schools had the same growth as students in more affluent settings.

Our most significant policy challenge of the last few years has been weighing the social good of ensuring that qualified applicants can afford to attend against the fiscal constraints, worsened by the recession.

Does everyone need to go to college? Should the last year of high school be a jump start for technical training -- and if everyone needs some education after high school, how are we going to pay for that?